XIX ISA World Congress of Sociology (July 15-21, 2018)

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Languages of Victims: Toward Advocating Contemporary Social Sufferings

RC15 Sociology of Health (host committee)
RC25 Language and Society

Language: English

It has passed just 50 years since Linguistic Turn edited by Richard Rorty was published in 1967. For human and social scientists, linguistic activities such as narrative and discourse have been the most important resources and topics to clarify and understand social world. Various theories and methods to analyze peoples’ talks and narratives have been invented and elaborated. On the other hand, patient-centered clinical method is one of the most significant trends in contemporary medicine. Patients’ talks and narratives consist of the essential components of contemporary medical practices. The developments of pharmaceutical industries and medical practices have entailed the unintended consequences such as adverse effects of medicine, drug-induced sufferings, medical malpractice, medical drug lag, and device lag. Without paying attention to the voice of patients and victims, it is difficult for us to discover such sufferings, to analyze the features of problems, and to realize social justice in health fields. This session aims not only to clarify and understand the social sufferings and problems related to health and medicine, but also to offer the measures to advocate them through the analysis of their narratives and discourses.

This session welcomes sociological discussion of how language analyses influence the understanding and the care of

--The victims of drug-induced sufferings

--The victims of medical malpractices

--The patients of incurable disease who faced with social exclusion

--The victims of drug lag and device lag

--And those who live with other social sufferings related to health and medicine